This Day in History: March 7

In 1974, researcher John G. Newton announced that the remains of the USS Monitor had finally been found. The vessel was the first ironclad warship to fight during the Civil War, sporting armor plating made by Baltimore iron manufacturer Horace Abbott. The Monitor, which is best known for its clash with the CSS Virginia during the Battle of Hampton Roads, sank in 1862 after a storm off of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. (Handout photo, The Mariners’ Museum)

1854: Charles Miller of St. Louis patented a sewing machine that could stitch buttonholes.

1876: Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.

1926: The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place between New York and London.

1945: During World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged Ludendorff Bridge.